I scanned this in from Stone's dissertation pp. 490-95. Any weirdness is due to the quality of the scan--I tried to catch all the weird characters and symbols put in place of certain letters. 

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Letter to Abutsu-bo 1 

I have read your letter carefully. Also I have duly received your offerings to the jeweled stupa: one string of a thousand coins, polished rice, and the other items you sent. I have respectfully reported your intent to the object of worship (gohonzon) and to the Lotus Sutra. Please be easy in mind.

First of all, in your letter, you ask, "What is represented by the jeweled stupa of the TathAgata Many jewels that rose and appeared (out of the earth]?"2

This teaching is extremely important. In explaining the jeweled stupa, when the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai [Chih- i] interpreted it in [chuan] eight of his Wen-chu, [he said that] the jeweled stupa has a twofold significance: that of verifying what has come before (in the Lotus Sutra] and that of introducing what is to come after.3 "Verifying what has come before" refers to the trace

teaching. "Introducing what is to come after" refers to the origin teaching. Again, the stupa when closed represents the trace teaching, and the stupa when open, the origin teaching. These [two aspects of the stupa] in turn indicate the two dharmas of (the truth as] object (kyo) and [the subjective] wisdom (chi) [to grasp it]. [These interpretations] get complicated so I will stop here. In essence, [the stupa's emergence] means that the three groups of voice-hearers,4 on hearing the Lotus Sutra, beheld the jeweled stupa of their own mind. Now, the same is also true of Nichiren's disciples and lay followers. In the Final Dharma age, therc is no jeweled stupa apart from th~ figures of those men and women who embrace the Lotus Sutra. And if this is the case, then those who chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, whether noble or base, high or low, are themselves the jeweled stupa, and also are themselves the Tathagata Many Jewels. There is no jeweled stupa other than Myoho- renge-kyo. The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the jeweled stupa, and the jeweled stupa is also Namu-myoho- renge-kyo.

Now the single body of Abutsu Shonin consists of the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind and space. These five elements are the five characters of the daimoku. This being the case, Abutsu-bo is himself the jeweled stupa, and the jeweled stupa is itself Abutsu- bo. Any other understanding would be profitless. This is the jeweled stupa adorned with the seven kinds of gems: hearing [the Dharma], having faith, keeping the precepts, practicing meditation, striving assiduously, abandoning [attachments] and repenting of one's offenses. 5 You may think you made offerings to the jeweled stupa of the TathAgata Many Jewels, but that is not so; you offered them to yourself. One's own person is the Tathagata of original enlightenment, possessing three bodies in one. Believing in this way, chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. Then that place (where you do so] is the very place where the jeweled stupa dwells. This is the meanign of the sutra's statement, "If there shoudl be a place where one preaches teh Lotus Sutra, my jeweled stupa [ . . .] will rise and appear before him."6

Because [this teaching] is so very rare and wondrous, I am inscribing the jeweled stupa for you.7 Do not bequeath it to anyone except your own son. Do not show it to others unless they are firm in faith. This the purpose of [the Buddha's] advent in this world.

You, Abutsu-bo, should be called "teacher and leader" of the northern province [of Sado]. Could Bodhisattva Pure Conduct have been reborn in your form and visited me? It is wondrous, wondrous indeed. I, Nichiren, am unable to know [the reason for] your resolve, so Iwill leave that to the power of Bodhisattva Superior Conduct when he makes his advent. There can be no other reason, none at all. You and your wife should revere the jeweled stupa privately. I will write again in detail.

With my deep respect, Nichiren.

The thirteenth day of the third month, Kenji 2 (1276)9

Notes to "Letter to Abutsu-bo":

1. "Abutsu-bo gosho," STN 2:1144-46.

2. This event is described in Lotus, p’ in 11, T 262.9:32b17ff. See also Hurvitz, pp. 182-88.

3. "Truly this stl1pa rises and appears from the ea] order to verify what has come before and to invite [Sakyamuni Buddha to expound] what is to come after . . . The emergence of the stupa is considered from two [aspects]. First, the sound of the voice [of the Tathagatha Many Jewels] issuing forth [from the stupa] serves to verify what has come before, and [Sakyamuni Buddha] opening the stupa serves to introduce what come after" (Wen-chu 8b, T 1718.34:113a17-18, 26-27 Here, "what has come before" indicates Sakyamuni's teaching of the one vehicle that leads all beings t Buddhahood without discrimination, while "what is to come after" refers to the revelation of his original attainrnent of Buddhahood in the far distant past.

4. The sravakaG of superior, intermediate and lesse] capacity. In the Lotus sutra, those of superior capacity (actually only one individual, Sariputra) grasp the principle of the one Buddha vehicle on hearing the Buddha speak of the "true aspect of the dharmas" in p’in 2; those of intermediate capacity, on hearing the parable of the "three carts and the burning house" in p’in 3; and those of lesser capacity, on hearing of past karmic relationship existing between the Buddha themselves, set forth in p’in 7.

5. The Lotus Sutra identifies the seven jewels adorning the stupa as gold, silver, yaidurva, giant clam shell, coral, pearl and carnelian (T 262~9:32b22-23). Wen-chu 8b interprets these seven kinds of jewels as indicating the seven "limbs" of enlightenment (sapta bodhyangani) and the seven prizes (sapta dhanani) (T 1718.34;113c9-10). Chi 8-4 in turn lists the seven treasures as hearing (sruta), faith (sraddha), precepts (sila), meditation (samadhi), assiduousness (virya), abandoning attachments (upeksa), and repentance (hri). (T 1719:34:311b13-135). This is the same list given in the above text; however, it differs somewhat from standard explanations of the seven prizes.

6. Lotus, p’in 11, T 262.9:32c12-13. The Taisho edition has "stupa shrine" instead of "jeweled stupa."

7. A reference to Nichiren's mandala.

8. Along with Bodhisattva Superior Conduct, mentioned subsequently, another of the four leaders of the bodhisattvas who emerged from the earth.

9. STN dates this letter Kenji 2 (1276). Another manuscript gives the year as Bun'ei 9 (1272) .For a discussion of the datinq of this letter, see Suzuki Ichijo, Nichiren Shonin ibun no bunkengakuteki kenkyu, pp. 357-59 and Asai Yorin Nichiren Shonin kyogaku no kenkyu, pp. 322-23.